


Stelle Invernali

by not4cat



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Art Theft, Gen, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25934467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not4cat/pseuds/not4cat
Summary: Nile finds out about something interesting that the Old Guard were up to during the second world war.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 7
Kudos: 165





	Stelle Invernali

Nile wasn’t sure if Copley had agreed to help them because he was guilty, or because he was afraid of Andy. The way he couldn’t meet any of their eyes said the former, the way he flinched away from Andy said the later, so maybe both. Regardless, he’d agreed to their terms and given them a place to stay for the foreseeable future as they figured out which of their safe houses has been compromised, so she wasn’t going to question it.

Copley had fled the room as soon as he could, most likely because he couldn’t stand facing Joe’s constant glare, but at least he had the common sense not to leave the house when none of them trusted him. Nicky had gone to check that the outside door and any other possible way of getting outside were locked, so Nile could tell it wasn’t just Joe who was angry.

After that, the three older immortals hadn’t moved away from the board. Andy was stood a few steps back, not moving at all, but Nile couldn’t tell if that was because she was still shocked by it all or if it was because moving would stretch the stitches Joe had meticulously put into her side the night before. The other two were closer, looking at individual stories and pulling the other to their side to show each other what they had found.

Nile was fascinated to see the impact that they had had on the world, reading the articles herself and finding out about the pasts that they definitely would never have told her. “You were part of the art plunder in World War 2 ?” She demanded suddenly, eyes catching on an article.

A heavy sigh from Andy, and then she turned away from the board and out of the room. Nicky came over to see which of the photographs Copley had collected she was talking about. There was a photo of Booker, facing just away from the camera, loading what looked like a painting in a gilded frame onto a train, surrounded by soldiers in Nazi uniforms.

“Ah,” he said, taking several steps away. “Joe found out that there was a train full of art in Poland that they were going to move, and he decided we had to liberate it from them. The plan was for Booker and I to pretend to be fellow Nazi soldiers, and to hijack the train once it was on its way. I think it was in Wałbrzych?” He glanced towards Joe for confirmation.

The man glanced up from the photograph he was looking at, “Yes, love,” he said, “they had a lot of Vincent’s work, and it didn’t belong to them. I would have liked to have a chance to kill them myself, teach them to steal art from the people.”

“When you say Vincent, do you mean Van Gogh?” Nile asked, then realisation crossed her face as she processed the sentence completely. “You know where the gold train went, and you haven’t gone back to get it yet?”

“Eh, we don’t actually know where it is.” Andy said as she came back into the room, voice heavy with derision, a bottle of whiskey she must have liberated from Copley’s stash in one hand. “They got pushed off the train before they could even do anything.”

Joe stole the bottle from her. “You’re mortal now,” he said carefully, “don’t give yourself alcohol poisoning so soon into it.”

“They’d changed one of their code words without the two of them realising,” Joe turned to Nile. “Andy was part of the night witches and I would not have been welcome anywhere near there without facing a facing a firing squad for helping the polish resistance, so it was just Booker and Nicky on that train when they were discovered. They were shot and thrown off while they were still dead and healing.”

“We went looking for it, of course,” Nicky took over. “We followed the tracks to the mountain, but they’d blown up the entrance by the time we reached it. When we got back to Andy and Joe, the ones who had been in charge were already back in Germany. The foot soldiers must have been left dead with the train when they blew the tunnels up, because we never found them, and the commanding officers didn’t live long enough for us to get to them.”

Nicky took hold of the bottle, placing two hands over Joe’s one, looking into Joe’s eyes as he drank. Andy fake gagged and Nile wondered how they made sharing stolen whiskey so cute.

Turning back to the board, “So all that art is gone?” Nile asked. She sighed sadly, accepting Joe’s offering of the bottle gratefully. 

“Don’t underestimate human greed” Andy muttered. “There was gold on that train too, they’re still looking for that train, and someone will find it someday.”

“And someone will find my painting of my Nicky that Booker used to get them a place on the train” Joe muttered, and Nile watched Nicky turn red but smile fondly at him. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get it back before it ends up sold away to some gallery.”

Nile looked up at him in confusion. “Your painting of Nicky got them onto the train?”

“Booker tricked the foot soldiers into believing he was one of them and into the train mission with some of my paintings. They were from back in the renaissance when Nicky and I had a few decades to spend with Leonardo and Michelangelo. Nicky was a perfect model for that painting, so…”

Andy slapped her hand over his mouth. “Nile non lo deve sentire, Yusuf!” Nicky hissed, turning a much deeper red than before. Nile couldn’t fathom how to react to the fact that apparently they had known and been close to yet more historical legends.

Pushing away Andy’s hand, Joe turned to Nicky. “But, my heart, it’s true. You were glowing in that painting and I should never have let Booker take it and risk it the way he did.”

Nicky drifted towards Joe, eyes locked. Andy snatched the bottle from Nile’s hand and then began trying to push her out of the room. “You do not want to be here,” she hissed when the younger immortal tried to protest. “They don’t care who else is in the room with them at this point.”

“Amore, i tuoi occhi brillano come stelle invernali,” Joe’s voice followed them up the stairs, and then the door closed behind them. Nile hoped Copley wouldn’t stumble in on them any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Nile non lo deve sentire ~ Nile doesn't need to hear this  
> Amore, i tuoi occhi brillano come stelle invernali ~ Love, your eyes shine like winter stars
> 
> Hi, thank you for reading? I wish I could have used some Arabic as well, but I have very little faith in google translate at the moment.


End file.
